Mayank Kumar

Founder & CEO, UpGrad

Mayank Kumar is the Founder and CEO of UpGrad (www.upgrad.com), India’s first full-fledged online education company. Mayank co-founded UpGrad together with serial entrepreneur and philanthropist Ronnie Screwvala and secured $16m of capital to grow the venture into India’s most meaningful education business.

Before founding UpGrad, Mayank was Vice President Education at Bertelsmann, Europe’s largest media and education conglomerate, where he oversaw Bertelsmann’s education strategy and its multi-million dollar investments in India. In this capacity, Mayank further served as Board Member of iNurture (www.inurture.com), India’s No. 1 provider of industry-specific academic programs.

Prior to joining Bertelsmann, Mayank was a Senior Principal at The Parthenon Group, where he advised global clients in the education sector across all geographies including China, Southeast Asia, India and South America and participated in deals worth $1.5bn flowing into the education sector.

Before joining The Parthenon Group, Mayank worked at the Tata Strategic Management Group, advising Tata’s strategic direction. Mayank holds a BTech from IIT Delhi and a MBA from Indian School of Business (ISB).

Only about 25% of Indian graduates are considered employable by the organized sector. Further, 48% of Indian employers said they were having difficulty in filling jobs, in 2012. Despite employers expressing difficulty in finding employable candidates, in 2009-10 the unemployment rates in India were higher for those who were more educated (graduates had more difficulty finding jobs than secondary or primary level graduates). So Indian education, in its current form, hasn't proved to be enough training for the incoming workforce.

This isn't just a catchy headline meant to shock you, though that would be a justified reaction. If you are 25 years old, have graduated from a reputed institute in a traditional higher education discipline and are looking for a job, you may not be handed one on a platter any time soon. You may be cushioned within the famous Indian demographic that is supposed to yield a "dividend", but unlike what you've been reading everywhere, this does not guarantee you employment.